Unsealed email ties Scott Walker to secret email system — By Patrick Marley, Daniel Bice and Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel — Madison — Included in more than 27,000 emails unsealed Wednesday is one that for the first time directly ties Gov. Scott Walker to a secret email system used …

Juror in ‘Loud Music’ Trial Wanted Murder Conviction … A juror in the controversial Florida “loud music” trial says there was no chance from the start of a murder conviction in the shooting of an unarmed teen at a gas station because several jurors were convinced Michael Dunn acted in self-defense.

New Confederate license plate brings skirmishes — Georgia's new license plate commemorating the Sons of the Confederacy features the Confederate battle flag more prominently than in the prior design. The emblem, incorrectly referred to in popular culture as the “Confederate flag,” …

Why Gap Is Raising Its Minimum Wage To $10 — Clothing retailer Gap, Inc. announced Wednesday that it will raise its hourly minimum wage to $10, a change that will affect 65,000 U.S. employees. GAP employees who are now earning the minimum wage will make $9.00 in June of 2014 and $10 in June of 2015.

George W. Bush: ‘I miss Air Force One’ — Former President George W. Bush said Wednesday that there isn't much he misses about being president, except for one big perk. — “A lot of people ask me, you know, do I miss much about being president,” Bush said. “The answer's really no. I mean I miss the people I served with.

The Endless Third-Party Fantasy — Since third-party fantasies reemerge every time there is evidence Americans hold their elected officials in minimum high regard, Brendan Nyhan provides a public service with a compendium of “here comes a third party!” predictions dating back to 2005.

Texas, it starts with you! — 2014 is here. The choices are becoming clearer, and the battle lines are being drawn. The GOP Beltway crowd has convinced itself that the way to maintain or retake the majority is through compromise and capitulation on important issues like amnesty, Obamacare, and the ever-increasing federal debt.

Our Decadent Elites — Watching Season 2 of “House of Cards.” Not to be a scold or humorless, but do Washington politicians understand how they make themselves look when they embrace the show and become part of its promotion by spouting its famous lines? Congressmen only work three days a week.

Ex-Con Ex-Governor Running for Congress — You're wrong if you think politics couldn't get saucier in Louisiana, where the ex-Democratic mayor of New Orleans was just convicted for bribery and the religious-right-supporting senator who got caught with hookers is a favorite to win the governorship …

More Americans Now View Afghanistan War as a Mistake — Republicans most likely to say the war was not a mistake — PRINCETON, NJ — For the first time since the U.S. initially became involved in Afghanistan in 2001, Americans are as likely to say U.S. military involvement there was a mistake as to say it was not.

The Powerlessness of Positive Thinking — Since publishing “The Secret,” in 2006, the Australian author Rhonda Byrne has been writing self-help manifestos based on the idea that people who think positive thoughts are rewarded with happiness, wealth, influence, wisdom, and success.

Will the Roberts Court Follow Its Own Religious-Freedom Precedent? — The cases challenging the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate challenge the conservative majority on the Court: Will they respect precedent if it pushes them toward upholding the mandate, or brush by it in their eagerness to carve out a religious exception?

READING THE NUMBERS — Last week's report about the declining abortion rate in the United States was potentially good news for everyone, especially, one would think, for right-to-life groups. Most of them, though, weren't cheering. A statement from Americans United for Life called the report …

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